The toy Bersaglieri painted plastic figures with a knocked out US tank circa, Tunisia 1943. Total black and white photograph below. www.Ironlegions.weebly.com

Another view of the two Italian painted figures. They are engaged in combat alongside Italian armored cars in the North African deserts, 1942 -43. The black and white version is below.

This diorama and the next were finished today. I tried two angles on the 47/32 anti-tank piece and crew. I believe I am satisfied with this project. I think these figures and other types would be good to display next to pieces of militaria when at a show. www.Ironlegions.weebly.com

This is the finished 47/32 anti-tank gun manned with Italian paratroopers of the "Folgore" in North Africa, circa 1942-43. I Added soil and rocks from a Texas backyard, 1/32 scale diorama bottles, barbed wire and then found a desert background and photoshoped them together. I enjoyed it enough that I will paint more plastic toy soldiers in the future. The photos below show the project and figures in process.

I've been fiddling with painting toy soldiers as of October 2013. It's been fun! I think they will display nicely with the Italian militaria I collect when I display alongside one another. Most know my primary interest is Italian militaria, so that is why I chose these Waterloo Manufactured Italian paratroopers of the North African theater. I've been reading on the internet the "ins and outs" of toy soldier collecting. I will stick to 1/32 plastic and metal toy soldiers and attempt to collect the major belligerants of WWII and their varied uniform types with the figure I acquire. I have a ways to go as I am a slow painter and have my hands full with the books, militaria collecting, work, family, etc. It is nice to develop a new interest though. Fun! The above figures are Italian paratroopes manning a 47/32 ant-tank gun. I attempted to show the Italian para-uniform and the fading that transpired with the fine cloth used in the Italian unform. Many times it would fade to a whitish color in the sun. The soldiers could look a bit irregular with the varying fading taking place within the same unit. One figure is unpainted to show the base figure before painting. Some plastic flash is gently cut off with an exacto knife and the figure washed before painting begins. I attempted to match the camouflage patterns on the helmet covers worn by the paras with their linen tropical uniforms of the period. They posed an interesting look I bet. I will eventually put them into a diorama fighting a tactical engagement against the British Eighth army. Continued below. www.Ironlegions.weebly.com

Another angle of the Italian paratroopers of the "Folgore" in North Africa. Was I able to show the iregular fading of uniform to uniform? I'm not entirely happy with the camo pattern on the paratrooper helmet covers, but I did look at my published book "Italy at War" for a good closeup of the pattern on an original example. I'll start the other unpainted figure this evening.

Two Bersaglieri of the North African Campaign. They were elite light infantry of the Italian Army and the written history on them is quite interesting. They were effective and tough soldiers. They where the traditional feathers in their helmets. A tradition that stems from the earlier to mid 1800's. In addition the red fez was worn as a duty cap. It was a crimson color with a bluish colored flourish at the rear. These items are still worn by the Italian Bersaglieri today. These figures are also manufactured by the Italian company called "Warterloo 1815" . Interesing company name. They are plastic 1/32 scale figures and within the scale I will stick too accumulating my armies. Interestingly, the Italians wore tan & khaki uniforms with continental items (grey-green) in North Africa. Our Bersagliere to the right wears tropical shorts and a continental grey-green shirt. Commonly seen in this theater. Whire socks as well as grey-green leggings could also be seen in ths theater as well. Notice the Bersaglier to the left wears filthy tropical paints and tunic and grey-green puttees. Very common in period photos. The tropical tunic seen here is is of a differing cut than the para tunics seen above. Hopefully, I was able to illustrate this effectively. Below, we see the opposite sides of the these two painted Bersagliere.